Tuesday, January 31, 2006

CHECKMATE

Greetings All,

I have long wondered what to do in the event a formal and true dictatorship came to power in the United States. Well, that day has finally arrived. The last vestige of our democratic republic has been co-opted. It appears the emperor has the legislative and now the judiciary at his disposal. I am sure the question was asked of many people of jewish descent, why they didn't you leave 1930'S Germany? Surely the question will be asked of early 21st century americans as well. I chose action in the past and no doubt there were some victories, however the time has come to follow lady liberty to her new home for she has left the shores of this once great nation...... This will be my last entry.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Responses to Calls for a Constitutional Amendment:

....and Responses to Calls for a Constitutional Amendment:“Local NAACP branches are opposed to any kind of tampering of the Maryland Constitution in the name of banning the legalization of gay and lesbian unions. A constitutional amendment attacks some of the most basic ﬁbers that the constitution was founded upon, and an amendment would have devastating effects for many in our communities. If critics of gay rights start to take out one group of people, what will stop them from taking out the rights of other groups of people next? This constitutional ban effort would be no better than some of the Jim Crow laws and segregation acts that were in some state constitutions in the late 1800s/early 1900s. The NAACP believes that basic human and civil rights need to be protected.”Elbridge G. James, Maryland State NAACP President Elect and Chair, Political Action Committee"I have voted against a federal constitutional amendment that would have written the definition of marriage into our Constitution. I oppose similar efforts to amend Maryland's constitution."Democratic Congressman and U.S. Senate Candidate Ben Cardin“It is not a matter of whether one is heterosexual or homosexual, what matters is commitment. I would rather the Maryland General Assembly focus on education, healthcare and economic development issues then what happens in the privacy of one’s bedroom. It’s a matter of civil rights!”Speaker Pro Tem Delegate Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County)"In good conscience, one simply cannot support any amendment that uses our Constitution as a vehicle to deny rights. The Constitution should be used to confer rights and protections, not to deny rights to a particular group."Delegate Gareth Murray (D-Montgomery County)“I am opposed to any constitutional amendment that would discriminate against persons due to their sexual orientation”Delegate Rosetta C. Parker (D-Prince George’s County)"The Maryland Constitution belongs to all its citizens. Any attempt to box out one group of people from this sacred document is antithetical to our nation's promise of equal justice for everyone, and is simply pandering to bigotry."Delegate Victor Ramirez (D-Prince George's County)"I would oppose any amendment to Maryland's constitution that would codify discrimination in our marriage laws. I continue to support Non-discriminatory policies and practices against persons based on race, gender, and sexual orientation."Senator Gwendolyn Britt (D-Prince George's County)Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this. Tell-a-friend!If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for EQMD Action Center.This message was sent to erogers@hshsl.umaryland.edu. Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop ALL email from EQMD Action Center, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove" in the subject line).

In the lawsuit, filed in July 2004, nine same-sex couples contended that Maryland's 1973 law stating that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid violates their constitutional rights. The suit named Baltimore City Clerk Frank Conaway and clerks in four other jurisdictions -- Prince George's, St. Mary's, Dorchester and Washington counties -- for refusing to issue marriage licenses to the plaintiffs.

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation in New York, the ACLU's Maryland affiliate and local attorneys collaborated on the complaint.

While lawyers from the Maryland attorney general's office defended the court clerks named in the suit, the state's prohibition on same-sex marriages is backed by many religious leaders and conservative lawmakers.

Murdock's decision is expected to be appealed to Maryland's highest court, the Court of Appeals.

States are clearly not in agreement about gay rights. While legal challenges are pending in a handful of states, 19 states have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. Only Massachusetts allows gay marriage.

In January 2005, clergy from around Maryland organized the "Defend Maryland Marriage" rally in front of the State House, calling for the legislature to adopt a constitutional ban on gay marriage. The General Assembly did not act on the proposal.

Instead, lawmakers passed several bills to afford more benefits to gay and lesbian couples -- including giving gays protection under the state's hate-crime statute, and giving domestic partners the right to make medical decisions for their partners. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. signed the hate-crime measure but vetoed the medical decision-making bill.

Those legislative actions were victories for gay-rights advocates, who hailed Maryland's legislative session as second only to Connecticut in its success. Connecticut lawmakers moved to allow civil unions, which confer some, but not all, of the benefits of legal marriage.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

House 'run like a plantation'

Sen. Clinton: House 'run like a plantation' New York senator call Bush Administration 'one of the worst'

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton on Monday blasted the Bush administration as "one of the worst" in U.S. history and compared the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to a plantation where dissenting voices are squelched.

Speaking during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, Clinton also offered an apology to a group of Hurricane Katrina survivors "on behalf of a government that left you behind, that turned its back on you." Her remarks were met with thunderous applause by a mostly black audience at the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem.

The House "has been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about," said Clinton, D-New York. "It has been run in a way so that nobody with a contrary view has had a chance to present legislation, to make an argument, to be heard."

"We have a culture of corruption, we have cronyism, we have incompetence," she said. "I predict to you that this administration will go down in history as one of the worst that has ever governed our country."

A spokeswoman for the White House declined to comment and referred questions to the Republican National Committee.

RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said: "On a day when Americans are focused on the legacy of Martin Luther King, Hillary Clinton is focused on the legacy of Hillary Clinton."

Monday, January 16, 2006

Activists monitored on way to Fort Meade war protest, agency memos show. The National Security Agency used law enforcement agencies, including the Baltimore Police Department, to track members of a city anti-war group as they prepared for protests outside the sprawling Fort Meade facility, internal NSA documents show.

The target of the clandestine surveillance was the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, a group loosely affiliated with the local chapter of the American Friends Service Committee, whose members include many veteran city peace activists with a history of nonviolent civil disobedience.

Under various names, the activists have staged protests at the NSA campus off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway every year since 1996.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, members of the group say, their protests have come under increasing scrutiny by federal and local law enforcement officials working on behalf of the NSA.

An internal NSA e-mail, posted on two Internet sites this week, shows how operatives with the "Baltimore Intel Unit" provided a minute-by-minute account of Pledge of Resistances' preparations for a July 3, 2004, protest at Fort Meade. An attorney for the demonstrators said he obtained the document through the discovery process from NSA.

Monday, January 09, 2006

American troops in Baghdad yesterday blasted their way into the home of an Iraqi journalist working for the Guardian and Channel 4, firing bullets into the bedroom where he was sleeping with his wife and children.

Ali Fadhil, who two months ago won the Foreign Press Association young journalist of the year award, was hooded and taken for questioning. He was released hours later.

Dr Fadhil is working with Guardian Films on an investigation for Channel 4's Dispatches programme into claims that tens of millions of dollars worth of Iraqi funds held by the Americans and British have been misused or misappropriated.

The troops told Dr Fadhil that they were looking for an Iraqi insurgent and seized video tapes he had shot for the programme. These have not yet been returned.